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TRISTA CARPENTER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER From left, Ellen Saporito and Grazia Saporito, both of Avoca, Jack White of Scranton and Ushu Mukelo of Congo discuss their heritage and ancestry during World Refugee Day at Nay Aug Park in Scranton on Sunday.

TRISTA CARPENTER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Anas Allouz of Syria, left, and Moustafa Almeky of Egypt perform a Syrian dance at World Refugee Day.

While Bhutanese dancers in traditional clothes circled hypnotically around a lone drummer, Sylvain Oredi watched quietly from the shade of a tree.

Everyone around him at Nay Aug Park was celebrating World Refugee Day on Sunday.

But Oredi, a refugee himself who only settled in Scranton a month ago with his wife and four children, stood with his back to a picnic table. His young son leaned against him.

There is no peace in the Congo, he said through a translator. There is no hope for a better life.

World Refugee Day was Tuesday, June 20, and the Diocese of Scranton and its refugee resettlement program team celebrated Sunday. Amid dancing and ice cream cones, a somber mood hung in the air.

Following President Donald Trumps executive order banning refugees from entering the United States, resettlement program Director Sonya Sarners office got quiet.

The diocese had to lay off two full-time employees.

Three full-time case managers and two part-time employees had once staffed her office. Now she has just one full-time manager and two part-time employment specialists, she said.

Sarner described a precarious time for refugees living in the Scranton area, people who fled places like Nepal, Syria and Congo, who had been working to bring family members along behind them.

Although the refugee ban has twice been shut down by separate federal courts, the matter has created uncertainty and many are canceling or pausing their plans indefinitely.

Travel papers for refugees take months to prepare but eventually expire, and many people who had been ready to go will have to restart their clearances, Sarner said.

The U.S. Supreme Courts decision on whether to allow the travel ban to be enforced is expected this week.

Speaking at Sundays celebration, Bishop of Scranton Joseph C. Bambera said believers are driven by a higher calling to offer safe harbor to the oppressed.

Catholics believe, Christians believe, that every person is created in the image and likeness of God, and has inherent dignity, value and worth, the bishop said. And every individual has the right to be in an environment in which he or she can care for themselves in an appropriate way and care for their families.

Ravaged by years of civil war and unrest, violence continues to threaten the Congolese people who choose to stay.

Oredi said he and his family fled first to neighboring Tanzania, then left the African continent altogether to come to Scranton.

In just the four short weeks he has been here, he already has found work at a distribution center in Pittston Twp.

I was welcomed, and Im happy, he said.

Contact the writer:

joconnell@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9131;

@jon_oc on Twitter

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Travel ban hangs over Scranton's World Refugee Day celebration - Scranton Times-Tribune